Illini Bluffs - Dual Credit

First of all, can we all just accept that learning new things, along with the practical insights and strategic advantages they bring, is really one of THE most remarkable things about being human?  I mean, sure, you could argue that all our fellow phyla in the animal kingdom do their share of learning and adapting, too, but best we know, none of them have quite the intellectual leveraging capabilities of humankind. Because of the way we’ve developed, and the resulting extent of the raw computational horsepower nested in our brains, we’re able to make all sorts of connections between disparate ideas, disciplinary variants, leveraged through language, our opposable thumbs, and a remarkable knack for tool-making and systems development and navigation. Phew! That said, learning can be picked up in all kinds of places — and, factually speaking, it is. Human beings are learning machines. Natural problem solvers. I would argue that one of the of the greatest human accomplishments of all time has been the codification of knowledge and its distribution through formal education. Not everyone loves school but, regardless, everyone IS learning. Always. Some more than others, but you get the idea. By the time most of us reach high school, we’ve become pretty good at understanding the patterns of formal learning. And, as it turns out, even the very process of LEARNING is learning. The evolution of education is almost a cliche. Some of it has created anxiety that not everyone loved — think: common core. But lots of other bits have landed squarely in the plus column. And I think dual credit is one of those.